As the purveyor of some of the most iconic horror films of the last century, it feels only apt that Hammer has risen from the grave. It seems you can’t keep a good studio down, and after getting back into the movie production business with the likes of Beyond the Rave, Wake Wood, Let Me In and The Woman in Black, Hammer’s latest release takes on a classic of British literature, given a modern spin.
Trying to rebuild his life, Rob Stevenson (Scott Chambers) is given an offer which could really turn things around for him. Needing the stability of a steady job to help him get access to his daughter, Rob is invited to the mansion of Dr. Nina Jekyll (Eddie Izzard – now Suzie Izzard, but still using her better known stage name), a reclusive pharmaceutical pioneer who had to withdraw from her role following a scandal. Rob is taken on by Nina to work for a trial period, despite the misgivings of her assistant, Sandra (Lindsay Duncan). Things begin to spiral out of control as Rob learns about Nina’s past and the dark family secret which haunts her to this day, and he ends up discovering there are dark forces at play.
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The very name of ‘Hammer’ is redolent of various imagery which has become so synonymous with its brand: saturnine evil, buxom wenches, mad professors and doctors, and the trappings of both folk horror and Victoriana. Even though Hammer turned its hand to more contemporary pieces like Dracula A.D. 1972, its stock in trade still felt like it was very much rooted in historical settings, which has proved rather difficult to shake off. As such, it feels a bit of a shock to the system to come across Doctor Jekyll being set in the present day, with it – and, consequently, Hammer – being rooted in an age of mobile phones, CCTV and Crunchy Nut Cornflakes.
However, by using Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde as its inspiration, Hammer still has one foot in the past, and its prior glories. This is not Hammer’s first dabbling with Stevenson’s work, as 1971’s Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde gave a gender-swapping twist to the story. When playing around with a classic property like this, it would be easy to try to make a faithful – maybe even slavish – adaptation, whereas it is far more of a challenge to use the story as a jumping-off point, and trying something different and innovative which will surprise the audience, even those viewers who may not be intimately familiar with the original plot but know the gist of the central conceit.
Writer Dan Kelly-Mulhern has managed to keep enough of the original idea, while managing to spin it into something fresh and less conventional than you might perhaps expect. There are still some elements of gothic horror at play here, particularly during the flashback sequences which make up a key part of the story (and which happen to be gloriously and atmospherically captured in black and white), but this is very much a horror de nos jours, and knows it has to work within a modish horror environment, lest it feel dated and behind the times, bearing in mind how trends and tastes have changed since the now rather quaint Hammer horror of yore.
Doctor Jekyll speaks very strongly of the need for Hammer to reinvent itself for a post-Y2K era, rather than preserving itself in aspic out of some nostalgic pang. Yes, modernising can often be a difficult transitional process, with changes of any scope being hard to accept. However, as long as the end result proves worthwhile, then any initial misgivings can be overlooked. Thankfully, Doctor Jekyll shows great potential for Hammer to be a viable concern going forward, being able to hold its own in such a busy marketplace if it can continue to deliver output like this which is both atmospheric as well as surprising.
Of course, the success of any project like his can live or die on the effectiveness of its leads. Eddie Izzard has experience of acting in roles which are a mixture of serious and dramatic, and a role in the pilot of Mockingbird Lane – a failed revival of The Munsters – shows Izzard’s flair for the more macabre. In Nina Jekyll, Izzard delivers a turn which is so unexpectedly understated for the most part, although there is still plenty of opportunity for chewing the scenery with much relish as required. Scott Chambers is the perfect foil, playing Rob with a great deal of vulnerability and inner turmoil, making him a sympathetic character when it would have been easy for him to be unlikable or unrelatable in the wrong hands.
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Director Joe Stephenson has delivered an accomplished film, one which certainly warrants an immediate rewatch in order to pick up on all the nuances and subtleties which can easily be missed on the first viewing. Doctor Jekyll serves up a very unexpected take on a familiar character, and manages to do a grand job of keeping two steps ahead of its audience.
Doctor Jekyll is available on digital download on 11th March from Hammer Films.
